Journey
by CyberSerpent
Summary: Companion to "Innocence", this time based on Soujiro's song "Journey" and his wandering rurouni days...some Tokyo action in the last paragraph! (oh and there's a kitty--everyone loves a kitty in a fic! ^_~)


Disclaimer- I don't own Rurouni Kenshin Emily Hu Normal Emily Hu 51 50 2001-10-23T22:46:00Z 2001-10-28T18:10:00Z 2 1086 6192 . 51 12 7604 9.2720 110 

Disclaimer- I don't own Rurouni Kenshin

A/n- the sequel to "Innocence"!  This time it's "Journey"~!  My fav anime song!  The timeframe is Soujiro in his wandering rurouni days.

Journey 

Soujiro Seta walked across the lonely mountain trail and sighed, rubbing his temples, "Not heat stroke again…" he grumbled.  But as another traveler came into view, a smile instinctively lit up his face.

The stranger smiled back as he passed, but when he thought Soujiro was out of earshot, Soujiro heard him mumble, "It's best to leave psychos alone."

So he thought he was psycho.

Well.

_Boku wa boku no basho e yukou _ Mada, nani mo mienai keredo 

Soujiro continued on the path and as he came across a fork in the road, he noticed a faint snuffling sound from the left, but the right was where he was headed—to the north.

So, against he instincts, he stepped on the right road, and immediately did a backtrack until he was running down the left road, searching for the source of the crying.

He found little splatters of blood here and there, and finally came across a tiny kitten mewing pitifully with a thorn in its paw.

_Mou namida nagasu no mo _ Kitto kowaku nai 

Soujiro's past murdering senses told him to kill it, to put it out of its misery.  But his new senses, the ones that had been buried for so long until the Battousai unearthed it, told him to try and help the kitten.  

He picked up the sniffling kitten and examined its right paw, which was bleeding heavily.  He patted the kitten's head apologetically and with a wince, yanked the thorn out.  The kitten yelped but held its ground.  

Soujiro tore a piece of his hakama off and wrapped it around the kitten's paw.

"There.  You ought to be okay now." Soujiro smiled at the kitten and the kitten gave him an affectionate lick on his nose in response.

_Ano hito ga kureta kotae ja _ Hontou no boku ni narenai ne 

Soujiro set the kitten down on the ground, but changed his mind as he looked ahead at the path before him.  It was littered with horned thickets, and Soujiro plopped the kitten on his shoulder instead, and said to it, "Well, it looks like we'll be together for awhile then."

The kitten meowed in reply and nuzzled against Soujiro's neck.  

_Nani ga mitsukaru n' darou __Nani wo mitsukerarenai n' darou __Kokoro ni kakushite oita __Boku no kakera __Tada kaze no sasu basho e __Tatta hitori de aruite yukou __Mishiranu hontou no boku ni _

_Doko ka de aeru no nara_

As Soujiro walked across the thorns-littered floor, he couldn't help but notice the kitten's constant moving around his shoulders.  It was highly dangerous, Soujiro noted.

And as fate would have it, the kitten just happened to slip and let out a loud yowl as it plunged down to the thickets—but Soujiro, luckily for his quick reflexes, caught the kitten before it hit the thorny shrubs.

"Whew." He breathed a sigh of relief and playfully ticked the kitten's nose.  "For now, no playing around on my shoulders."

The kitten gently nibbled his finger.

_Sukoshi hayaku hashiri-sugite __Nani mo minakatta ki ga shite 'ru __Sou machigaeta koto mo _

_Kitto kotae na n' da_

But the kitten did not cease its playful behavior as it pounced around on Soujiro's shoulder and now it was purring contentedly on top of his head.

"Let's hope you stay there." Soujiro said grumpily.

The kitten just mewed, and kneaded thru his hair.

Soujiro gave an exasperated sigh and said to the kitten, "What can I call you?  Since it looks like you're going to be staying with me for awhile."

"Mrow."

"sigh that was no help.  What about…" Soujiro took the gray tabby kitten down and thought.

_Mou ichido boku dake no jikan de _ Dare ni mo nite inai boku ni naru 

"Soutaro?" Soujiro laughed.  The kitten gave an approving meow.

"Hey, you think so?  You want that name?  Soutaro?" Soujiro stared disbelievingly at the kitten.

He nodded.

"Whoa." Soujiro shook his head and laughed again. "Alright then, Soutaro.  Let's get going." He continued to walk briskly along the trail, all the time keeping an eye on the tabby nestled on his head.

_Dare to wakariaeru darou __Dare wo kizutsukete shimau darou __Kokoro wa omou you ni wa __Kirenai kara __Tada, michi no yuku mama ni __Hiroi atsumete aruite miyou __Yaiba wa matazu ni yuku yo _

_Ryoute de tsukamu tame ni_

About a week later, I came across a young boy dressed in a blue hakama and gi.  He was sitting at a nearby food stand, and chatting animatedly with the young waitress sitting beside him.  She seemed interested in the kitty he had on his head.  Then she pointed at the cat and asked the young man, "T-that's a really cute cat…I-I've always wanted a cat but Tae would never let me keep one…"

Then the boy looked at her warmly, and he finally replied slowly, "Soutaro is my one important friend in my journey to search for my truth.  If I give him to you, will you promise to take very good care of him and love him unconditionally as I had did in the past days?"

The waitress gave a small squeal and said quickly, "No, I couldn't possibly—"

"Take him." The young man smiled and took the cat off his head and placing it on the girl's head.

The girl beamed at him, "Seriously?  I can keep him?"

"You have in your heart unconditional love.  I can see that, and plenty to spare for one little lost stray kitten." With a wave the young man stood up and vanished out of sight, leaving a half-empty teacup and an empty plate of tempura behind.

The girl kissed the kitten's nose and said, "I'll take very good care of you, Soutaro.  Don't worry."

Then a young boy came up behind the girl and grabbed her shoulders, yelling, "BOO!"

"AAAH!" the girl screamed, and the kitten yelped.  She twisted around angrily and began shouting at the boy, "Yahiko-kun, how many times do I have to tell you don't scare me when I'm waitressing!"

"Waitressing?  I see you just pampering the cat.  Where'dja get it anyway, Tsubame?"

"Oh," the girl's eyes twinkled mischievously, "nowhere."

I gave a laugh and for once the girl and boy noticed me.

"Kenshin-san!" the girl cried, and hugged me around the middle, "You're back!"

I hugged her back, "Yes, it's been awhile, Tsubame."

The boy punched me on the shoulder, and grinned slyly, "So, how did your honeymoon go?"

Then he gave the official Rurouni Kenshin ORO! Look and toppled forward as my angry ponytailed wife stood behind him with a kendo stick, red-faced, "Little boys should NOT ask such things!"

I laughed again, it was good to be home.

_Nani ga mitsukaru n' darou __Nani wo mitsukerarenai n' darou __Kokoro ni kakushite oita __Boku no kakera __Tada kaze no sasu basho e __Tatta hitori de aruite yukou __Mishiranu hontou no boku ni __Doko ka de aitai kara_

A/n- datz all for Journey! Little bit o' Tokyo action back there with Kenshin and the others.  Okay, it might be kinda confusing since the last paragraph was in Kenshin's POV and he didn't seem to recognize Soujiro, Tsubame, Yahiko, and Kaoru but I did that to keep a mysterious plot and such.  Oh yes, for the more dense readers here's a key for you:

LAST PARAGRAPH EXPLANATION g:

POV: Kenshin

Young waitress: Tsubame

Young man: Soujiro

Young boy: Yahiko

Angry Wife g: Kaoru

Nearby food stand: Akabeko

Timeframe: when Kenshin and Kaoru came back from their honeymoon (they went to Kyoto), and Kenshin's just standing there (Kaoru's off congratulating Sanosuke and Megumi, the newlyweds g, okay, I can't resist putting that in, I'm just a die-hard S+M fan)checking out the scene between Soujiro and Tsubame.

OK, dats all!  See ya all hopefully in a next fic!

Later dayz

CyberSerpent .~


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